This guy - Terek MS Maghary - must be some kind of something up there in the land of 'wurst mit bier'. He has his band signed to a premier Metal label, he has a side project (Dawnrider) with numerous guests in their debut album, he has (or will) publish a fantasy stories book (or series of books) and also is the organizer/promoter of the infamous Keep It True festival, where nearly every retro/forgotten 80's Metal band has (or will) participate. In the meantime, the 4th Majesty album is now released to be - again - a strictly naive/average effort. Strange things...
Maghary's roots are from Arabia, still he's running Majesty's 'brand' for 8-9 years now in Germany. The self-financed 1999 Keep It True album did score good ratings in the German underground, full of Manowar-influenced clichés but with sufficient 'heart'. Signing to Massacre Records, ex-Manowar axeman Ross The Boss did guest on the sophomore Sword & Sorcery (2002) album. Stefan Kaufmann (Accept/U.D.O.) would produce the band's third album, Reign In Glory (2003) while lineup changes did not prevent Maghary from occupying himself with all the other activities previously mentioned.
2006, isn't it? Hellforces has already entered the German music charts at position #100 and I wonder what happened to the level of taste in that country? This album is not bad, but it's neither better nor worse than the previous albums. It's the same blend, but not in the conscious way. 'Naive' is the word that comes to mind. Compared to Majesty, Hammerfall's and Primal Fear's music does show huge changes from album to album. To extend: I have the belief that Maghary and Co. did grow up with Manowar's 1982-1992 discography (plus a dozen of other U.S. Epic Metal bands) and then decided to write songs in the immature 'vein' of the 1993-2006 Manowar albums (2 albums in 13 years, meaning). Add some Primal Fear rhythm section and a Hammerfall 'polished' production/mix and you got the idea.
Dunno who did the sound job, dunnno if/who's guesting in this one; do not even care. Choose your path: get the record if you have the previous ones, bypass it if you don't like /have the others. Heavy Metal has not been that cliché ever before, I think.